Mar 3, 2017
The Adventures of Banana Teacher 05 - Last Minute Laments
The Japanese are known for their punctuality. The trains come at exactly the time they say they will and leave exactly when they say they will. If you have a meeting scheduled at 9:00, it's going to start at 9:00 and if you aren't ready to start at 9:00, you're considered late even if you are in the room. So, why is it that (at least at my school), I'm always being told about events at the last possible minute. This morning I was asked to prepare a presentation about Hina Matsuri. In English. 10 minutes before it was to start. I frantically printed off a Wikipedia page, but I don't think I completely pulled it off. I don't know anything about Hina Matsuri except that it involves dolls. I don't mind doing presentations like these, but I wish I had more time to prepare. This isn't the first time that this has happened. It occurs frequently and even though I've talked with the staff about giving more notice, it doesn't seem to work. Is this a Japanese thing or is it just at my school?
I frequently look like this...
5 Comments
edthethe
on Mar 3
My elementary school had me do full lessons like this. I would be busy prepping for something and they would send students to get me for the supposed planned lesson that no one let me in on until the students got there. I always kept bingo sheets and played bingo when I couldn't come up with something
Aluma
on Mar 3
@edthethe Ugh! That sucks. Mine today was in front of the whole school! Thankfully, it didn't have to be long and the kids got to eat cake after.
edthethe
on Mar 3
did you get cake too? Because that would have made everything ok with me in that situation haha!!
Kasajizo
on Mar 4
Sometimes I call my school the day before to confirm the schedule. Then when I arrive in the morning, it has been completely changed and all my planning is wasted. I have learned the hard way not to trust any school schedule. Plan for the worst and you'll still be only half-prepared :)
KamaT
on Mar 23
Definitely not just that school. In my ALT days I was often handed full responsibility for lessons 5 mins before they were due to start. I was never strong enough to say anything about it (other than complain to friends). Although, rather than it being a 'school' thing, it would depend on the teachers I was working with. Some were really organised it terms of how we would work together on lessons, other weren't. At all!